


Trust Me

by Khoshekh42



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 08:56:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21505261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khoshekh42/pseuds/Khoshekh42
Summary: Eli thinks that he and Thrawn are screwed when they get captured while sneaking around, but Thrawn- as usual- has a crazy plan that might actually work.
Relationships: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2019





	Trust Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RightHandofFenHarel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RightHandofFenHarel/gifts).



“Commander,” Thrawn said as soon as they were alone, voice low and more urgent than it normally was, “I need you to trust me, we don’t have time for me to explain fully.”

Eli nodded, “I trust you.” Unsurprised that he meant it, yet surprised at the lengths to which he meant it, he shook the thought away so he could concentrate fully on the situation at hand.

They were in the prison of a small community on a backwater planet that Eli had only just found out existed. They had been investigating a lead into Nightswan (one that hadn’t even panned out) when they were caught trespassing. Thrawn had, apparently, been thinking ahead when he’d told Eli back on the ship to put on plain clothes instead of their normal uniforms.

Eli couldn’t help but notice Thrawn’s shirt was just a smidge too small for him, as if he hadn’t worn it for several years, and had gotten more muscular in that time.

There were footsteps approaching.

“Trust me,” Thrawn muttered, and Eli only had time to nod before Thrawn slipped his hand into Eli’s, who blinked in surprise, glancing down at their hands- now intertwined.

Footsteps were getting closer.

Thrawn slid closer to Eli and leaned his head down onto his shoulder. Eli’s eyes were wide as he looked down at Thrawn’s face, which looked worried for the first time that Eli had ever seen. Thrawn’s hand- the one not holding Eli’s- was fiddling with something in his pocket.

“Act like this is normal. Trust me.” Thrawn muttered again.

Closer.

Eli swallowed, but forced his face into a normal expression. He leaned into Thrawn, figuring that the man had to have some sort of plan.

The door opened.

The guard seemed slightly taken aback by the sight in front of him, but he regained his composure quickly. “Get up.” He ordered.

With a glance to each other, they stood, not letting go of the other’s hand.

“Follow me, the director wants to see you.”

Thrawn didn’t speak, but walked forward after brief hesitation.

Eli had a thousand things going through his mind, desperately trying to figure out what Thrawn was going for, his mental processes stifled by Thrawn’s hand in his own.

They were led to an interrogation room of sorts, left to wait by themselves until the ‘director’ came to speak to them.

Eli opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Thrawn speaking in a voice much unlike his normal one. It was warmer, it contained worry and fear, and the words were things that Thrawn wouldn’t say under any normal circumstances.

“Eli… I’m sorry that I said the base was abandoned, I really thought it was… If we end up in prison, or worse, just… just know that I love you, and I’m sorry.”

Eli figured that this meant that they were being watched, but he couldn’t help the way his heart started racing as Thrawn told him that he loved him.

The crush that he’d been harboring for his superior officer was swelling up again, even as Eli had so hard tried to suppress it for this long.

“I know.” Eli made his voice as understanding as he could, and before his brain could stop himself, “I know, darlin’”

Out of his periphery he saw not more than a twitch at the corner of Thrawn’s mouth, as if he hadn’t been expecting for Eli to actually play along.

To be fair, Eli hadn’t been expecting to play along either.

Thrawn seemed to recover quickly, because he smiled- something Eli had rarely seen from him- and before Eli knew it, Thrawn leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

His lips were warmer than his blue skin suggested, and that warmth soon spread through Eli.

Just as soon Thrawn had leaned forward and kissed him, he was back to where he had been before as if nothing had even happened.

Eli forced his mouth to curl into a smile, like Thrawn’s was, instead of falling open like it wanted to.

And then there were footsteps approaching again, the sharp clicking of heels on permacrete.

Eli felt Thrawn squeeze his hand, and for a brief moment, Eli wondered why he’d done that. Surely it wouldn’t show on the recording?

The door slid open.

A severe woman entered the room, her small glasses barely hanging onto the edge of her nose, and dark hair tied up in a tight and efficient bun. She held a datapad tight to her chest.

“What exactly were you thinking when you decided to trespass on my property?” She asked, voice just as stern as she looked.

Eli let Thrawn take the question.

“Ma’am, I promise that we didn’t know the base was still active. Eli…” He pulled a pained expression, “Eli lost his job, and we couldn’t make payments on our apartment, we were just looking for a place to stay for a bit while I found a job, and he found a new job.” Thrawn’s voice still held the worried tone that he’d had before.

She stared at Thrawn through her glasses- still threatening to fall off her face- and Eli could tell that she was skeptical.

“Please,” Thrawn’s voice gained an expertly crafted desperate edge, “Call my brother- he can confirm what I just told you.”

“Your brother? Alright we’ll see what your ‘brother’ has to say.” She still didn’t seem to buy a word of what he was saying.

Eli’s heart pounded. Who was going to play the part of Thrawn’s brother? If she forced him to use a holo, she would surely see through the fact that the person on the other end wouldn’t be Chiss.

Thrawn reached into his pocket and- of his own volition- pulled out a holo.

Eli cringed. Surely Thrawn had a plan?

Thrawn keyed in a frequency (letting go of Eli’s hand in the process, leading Eli to feel disappointed in a way that Eli really didn’t want to analyze- now or ever), and handed the director the comm.

Then, to Eli’s surprise- surprise that he could only try to subdue- an actual Chiss appeared in the holo.

_“Mar? Vea carcir csei s?”_ The man asked, presumably speaking Cheunh- a language Eli barely even knew existed, one he wouldn’t even know how to begin to translate.

“Speak in Basic, please.” The director requested coolly.

The Chiss sighed, _“Is Mitth’raw’nuruodo in trouble. Again?”_

“Is that his name?”

“Call me by my core name, Thrawn.” Thrawn supplied, as if trying to appear helpful.

_“What has he done?”_ The Chiss repeated.

“He was found trespassing on my private property with…”

“Eli Vanto, ma’am.” Eli offered, mirroring Thrawn’s cue.

_“Eli, yes.”_ The Chiss nodded, _“Now, why would Thrawn be so stupid as to do such a thing as you have claimed him to do?”_

“I’m sorry, I never caught your own name.” The director smiled, sickly sweet.

_“Mitth’ras’safis.”_ He replied, giving no easier ‘core name’. But Eli thought through the name, considering _Mitth’raw’nuruodo_ and _Mitth’ras’safis_. He found _‘Thrawn’_ at the middle- the core- of his name, and could work through it to find _‘Thrass’_ as the core of _Mitth’ras’safis_. With a start, he also realized that with the _‘Mitth’_ prefix, they really could be brothers, unless ‘Thrass’ had given a fake name.

He kept his face as stony as he could manage, but the idea that Thrawn had a brother was news to Eli.

_“Now, why would my brother have trespassed onto your property?”_

“What employment does Mr. Thrawn hold?”

_“None.”_ Thrass sounded scathing, and at that point Eli was pretty sure that they actually were brothers.

“And… Mr. Vanto?”

_“He is employed- my apologies-_ was _employed, by a dojo on Coruscant, Yinchom Dojo I believe.”_

The director was looking somewhat miffed that Thrawn’s story was checking out.

_“Now, madame, if I could get back to my own very important work? Thrawn- Ch'ah cart'ar vah rsah vei vah viz veah ch'a ttin'i. K'ir nah k'ir ch'a casisi. Bun lin'si bah veo carcun'co ch'acert.”_ His voice was stern, but Eli- having spent so much time with Thrawn- was able to see the glint of amusement to his face that the director would likely not see.

At this, Thrass disconnected the call.

Thrawn’s cheeks- interestingly enough- were tinged purple.

“What did he say to you?” The director asked harshly.

“He told me off for not having a job.” Thrawn looked sheepish- certainly a new look for him, “That he’s… disappointed.”

Except… Surely that wasn’t what Thrass had said? Between the fact that if Thrass knew what Thrawn did with the military, then he’d know that Thrawn did in fact have a job, but also for that gleam of amusement that Thrass had held. The fact that Thrawn had showed a physical reaction to what Thrass has said seemed like a clue, but Eli had no clue what had been said.

But he _really_ wanted to know, if it could embarrass Thrawn.

Meanwhile the director was pulling up something on her datapad, then proceeding to enter in a frequency to her own comm, Thrawn’s having been thrown back on the table.

_“Hello, you’ve reached H’sishi from Yinchom Dojo, how may I help you?”_

Eli’s heart froze. _She was calling the dojo._ The dojo that would soon tell the director that Eli had never worked for them, at which point the director would know that they were in fact purposefully trespassing.

“Madame H’sishi.” The director gave a shark-like grin, as if she could smell Eli’s guilt radiating off of him. “This is Director Leeman from Higher Skies, I have a question about a former employee of yours.”

_“What’s the question?”_ H’sishi sounded suspicious of the director, who Eli could now attribute a name to- Leeman.

“What was Eli Vanto like as an employee?”

Eli’s heart pounded, waiting for the shoe to drop.

_“Shitty.”_

Eli barely contained his confusion, risking only a glance to Thrawn, who was scowling.

_“Don’t get me wrong, he was a great person, but he had issues as an employee. It was a shame to have to let him go.”_ H’sishi continued, as if she wasn’t lying through her teeth.

Director Leeman was practically snarling with the resentment of being wrong.

“Thank you for your time, Madame H’sishi.” Leeman hissed, “Good day.”

“Now, please,” Thrawn begged, “May we leave? You have my word that we won’t come back.”

Leeman waved dismissively to a corner of the room- presumably where the camera was- “Whatever. If you are seen here again, things won’t go so well for you.”

Thrawn’s smile, though it looked relieved to anyone else, contained that triumphant smirk that meant that he had someone right where he wanted them. “Thank you, Director Leeman.”

The door slid open, and Leeman stalked out, still obviously upset.

And with that, Eli and Thrawn were released, and led back outside the compound. They were silent until rounding a corner to be sure they wouldn’t be watched.

Thrawn pulled out his comm again, and he began issuing orders to someone to keep an eye on Higher Skies Advocacy Group.

Once his comm was back in his pocket, and they had arrived at where they were to be picked up to go back to the Chimera, Eli finally spoke up. “Sir, if I can ask, why would the woman from the dojo lie about me working there?”

“I have an acquaintance that was able to pull a few strings for me at the dojo. While we were in the holding cell, I was able to discreetly text her from inside of my pocket.”

“And… Thrass?”

Thrawn paused to consider, “I am impressed that you worked out his core name. Thrass is my brother, yes. All I had to do was ask him to cover for me, and- though begrudgingly- he agreed.”

“What did he say to you in- at least I assume it was Cheunh. Y’know, there at the end.”

Curiously, Thrawn’s cheeks tinted ever so slightly purple again. “He simply said that he hoped I knew what I was doing with the plan I had come up with. Then he… wished me luck with a different endeavor.”

“And sir… why that distraction? Why not say we’d wandered into her property unknowingly, or that we had gotten lost?” Eli asked tentatively.

“You’re asking why I chose to employ the ruse of us being romantically involved.” Thrawn stated.

“Well, yeah!” Eli said, somewhat frustrated that Thrawn was simultaneously being too direct while still avoiding the question, frustrated that Thrawn was so stony-faced about it all, “Thrawn it’s not every day that your kriffing captain kisses you. It’s only reasonable that I get an explanation.” Eli stared defiantly at Thrawn.

Thrawn blinked, as if surprised by Eli’s outburst.

“Why did you kiss me?”

“I had to maintain-”

“Yeah but that’s such _bullshit_ , Thrawn!” Eli’s brain was working overtime as he was trying to figure out why Thrawn had chosen _this_ ‘ruse’ as he’d put it. “There were so many ways you could have done that, there’s no way that’s the only reason. You always have secret schemes going on the background- you said so yourself with your ‘different endeavor’ that Thrass wished you luck with. What are you _planning,_ Thrawn, because if you kiss me as part of it, I deserve to know.”

“Yes.” Thrawn straightened himself, as if trying to maintain an air of professionality. “You do deserve an explanation, I… apologize for my actions. I did not realize that it would bother you so much, if I had known, then I would have chosen a different strategy.”

Eli remained silent, prompting Thrawn to continue.

“I kissed you because I wanted to. It was a selfish act, and I shouldn’t have done it. I apologize.” Thrawn appeared to be trying to be as formal as possible to distance himself from what he was saying.

“You wanted to.” Eli stated, heart beating faster than he knew possible. “Why?”

“I have a certain…” Thrawn paused, _“ozethonda?”_

Eli sighed. “Literally romance, but a better translation here would be that you have a crush- a colloquial term for a romantic interest.” He translated without pausing to process what Thrawn had said, “But…” Eli furrowed his brow as he began to realize what had been said, “That’s not what you mean.”

“Crush…” Thrawn repeated as if trying the word out on his tongue, and he scowled lightly at the feel of it, “Romantic interest seems like an appropriate phrase.”

“You have a ‘romantic interest’.”

“Yes.”

“In me.”

A pause. “Yes.”

“But… why?”

Thrawn tilted his head to the side, “I don’t understand.”

“Why me?”

“Eli,” Thrawn said, as gentle as Eli had ever heard, “You were the first person from outside of the Ascendency to show me true kindness, friendship. There’s no reason it wouldn’t be you. There’s no reason why I wouldn’t come to care about you… romantically.” Even as stoic as Thrawn was, it was clear as day that he was uncomfortable with talking about his emotions, Eli could almost say that he was nervous. Thrawn’s gaze fell somewhere on the wall of the alleyway they were in, still waiting on the crew that would pick them up.

“So, just to clarify, you wanted to kiss me because you like me.” Eli donned a small but somewhat mischievous smile.

“Correct.”

“Well then, sir. I see no reason to deny yourself of such an indulgence again.”

Thrawn’s eyes snapped to Eli, “What?”

Eli broke out in a full shit-eating grin, “Kiss me again, Thrawn.”

Just a small pause, with a slight look of tender amazement on his face, Thrawn did as he was told, leaning down and cradling Eli’s face with his hands, and finally kissing him softly, leaving desperation and passion for later. As far as Eli could tell, they had all the time in the world.

Eli had his hands on Thrawn’s hips, pulling him ever so slightly closer to him, pleased when he could feel Thrawn’s heartbeat against his chest.

So loud was the sound of Eli’s own heartbeat in his ears that he didn’t hear- or at least didn’t process- the soft humming of an airspeeder entering the alleyway.

What he did hear was the small snort and “Oh shit,” from Karyn Faro.

Eli stumbled back from Thrawn, face hotter than it ever had been, face contorting into an expression of horror.

Thrawn, for the first time in his life, looked truly speechless. The purple tint that had been there for most of their conversation was stronger and seemed to have reached his ears.

Karyn looked like she was holding back laughter, “You look ridiculous with your mouth gaping like that, Vanto. And Commodore, is that face paint or is that just a thing that you do sometimes?”

Thrawn narrowed his eyes at her, “Commander, I-”

“My lips are sealed, Commodore.” She smiled, “Even if telling might get me twenty credits.”

Thrawn’s eyes narrowed further, but Eli butted in before he could say anything, “There were betting pools about us?”

Karyn blinked in surprise, “I honestly thought you guys knew. But yeah. I mean, it’s not like you two are… subtle.”

Thrawn closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply, “Just take us back to the Chimera, Commander Faro.” He said when he opened his eyes.

“Yes sir,” She gave him one last amused grin before they climbed in and were driven to the shuttle that would take them to the Chimera.

They were alone in the shuttle, and the silence was practically palpable.

Eli cracked first, asking Thrawn something he’d been desperate to know the entire airspeeder ride to the shuttle, in Sy Bisti so that Karyn wouldn’t eavesdrop, _“What does this mean? For us?”_

Thrawn looked to him curiously, _“What do you mean?”_

Eli pulled a face, _“Come on, Thrawn, that didn’t just mean nothing, did it? Are we dating, is this just a friends with benefits situation?”_

_“I would have thought that it was obvious that we be… dating.”_ The way he said the word was with a certain amount of distaste, _“Since I’ve been courting you for a while now.”_

_“You’ve been what?”_ Eli asked, trying to make sure he was translating correctly in his head.

_“I apologize, I assumed you were aware. I have been courting you for several months now. If the childish word ‘dating’ is something you wish to employ, then I shall resign myself to it.”_

Eli snorted, choosing to leave thinking about the fact that Thrawn had been courting him for another time, focusing on Thrawn’s fondly derisive take on the word ‘dating’, _“Listen, call it whatever you like, as long as I can kiss you again, I’ll be happy.”_

This earned him a small smile from Thrawn.

Eli grinned cheekily, _“I’m guessing you’re not thrilled with the idea of me calling you my boyfriend, then?”_

Now it was Thrawn pulling a face, _“I would greatly prefer if you didn’t.”_

Eli laughed, _“Too late, I’m gonna call my mom and say you’re my boyfriend and you can’t stop me.”_

Thrawn huffed, turning away from Eli. A few long moments passed before, still facing the window, he replied, _“I would prefer the term partner.”_

Eli could feel his cheeks tint red at the serious tone in Thrawn’s voice.

_“Okay.”_ He said, giving a soft smile to Thrawn- to his _partner_.

_“I won’t tell my mom if you don’t want me to.”_ Eli said tentatively.

Thrawn looked towards him again, and hesitated as he appeared to be considering his words carefully, _“I wouldn’t mind you telling your mother about the fact that we are… together, but if you would be put in an uncomfortable position doing so, I would not force that upon you. It is your prerogative to tell them or not.”_

Eli sighed, _“I mean, yeah. They’re not xenophobic so much as they don’t like Chiss specifically. But they’ll get used to it. Better tell them now before we get any more serious.”_

_“Then I wish you luck.”_

Eli grabbed Thrawn’s hand, sliding closer to him in an echo of what Thrawn had done in the holding cell earlier.

Several comfortable seconds passed before Karyn spoke, _“You guys know that I know Sy Bisti, right?”_

“Rav’hn” Was the muttered word on Thrawn’s lips- something Eli was almost certain was some sort of swear, based on his tone.

Karyn laughed. “I won’t tell anyone.” She said in Basic.

“Thanks.” Eli mumbled, effectively ending any and all conversation for the rest of the trip.

Eli had dropped Thrawn’s hand before they stepped off the shuttle and into the Chimera where any of their crewmates could see them- crewmates that might not be as understanding as Karyn.

* * *

The next half hour or so were extraordinarily tedious, with lots of debrief and orders given by Thrawn in which he told most- but not all- of the situation they’d gotten themselves into.

Finally, Eli was released to do as he pleased (though Thrawn was still stuck in strategy meetings, so Eli couldn’t do exactly what- or who- he wanted).

So instead, Eli went to his room and sat down on his bed, trying to process what had all happened that day.

Everntually he grabbed his comm and called Len, an old friend of his from back on Lysatra.

Len picked up after a few moments, his voice slurred and sleepy.

“Shit, Len, did I wake you up?” Eli cursed himself for not checking Lysatran time.

“Eli! Yeah, you woke me up, it’s about… five thirty here. That’s fine though, I don’t have work in the morning.” Len cleared his throat, “What’s up with you?”

“Well, good. Great! Today was fantastic, just… unexpected.” Eli found himself grinning.

“Hm?” Len still sounded tired, but he seemed genuine in his interest,

“I, uh,” Eli laughed a little, “I’m dating a guy. We just got together today.”

“Hey! Congrats, Eli! So, come on, what happened?”

“First, you gotta promise not to tell my ma and dad. Anything from this whole story will tip ‘em off to who it is and… They’re not very fond of him. I'd like to tell them myself.”

“Why? They’ve never had a problem with your previous boyfriends. Or girlfriends. ‘Cept Tela.”

Eli snorted, “Listen, if you ever meet him, and you call him my boyfriend, he’s gonna be so pissed off, an’ for you, I don’t want that to happen. In any case, they’re not mad cause he’s a guy or whatever. He’s uh, well… remember those stories about the blue skinned aliens with the glowing red eyes. The Chiss? Cause, well, he’s Chiss.”

“Those… I mean, you know that those were just stories, Eli. I mean, either he’s a Pantoran and just fucking with you, or he’s a figment of your own imagination. Neither really bodes well for your sake.”

“He’s actually Chiss. Trust me. He’s got the glowing red eyes, he’s just as intelligent as the stories say, but he’s… he’s kind. When he wants to be anyway. He can certainly be brutal too.”

“You’re saying that you met a man from Lysatran nightmares, and you decided you were down to fuck.”

“Oh for kriff’s- Len!”

“Well that’s what it sounds like you’re saying.”

“Yeah, well. It’s not like that. I mean… I like him. A lot. More than I care to admit, actually.” Eli took a deep breath, “Anyway, do you wanna hear what happened or not?”

“Yeah, course.” Len sounded amused, but fond.

“Well the guy- his name is Thrawn- he’s actually the captain of the Chimaera, and we were looking into a lead for a thing we’re trying to figure out, and we kinda accidentally got caught tesspassing, blah blah blah, long story short, we ended up pretending to be dating and homeless and we were eventually let go. With the help of Thrawn’s brother, who I never knew existed? That’s a whole other story, but I ended up calling Thrawn out for the bullshit about kissing me to ‘maintain our cover’ and we ended up, you know, making out.” Even as he said it, Eli knew that Thrawn would hate the phrase. “So, yeah. I’m dating the Chiss captain of my ship. Dear god, please tell me how I’m supposed to explain this to my parents.”

Len laughed, “I don’t know, Eli. You said they didn’t like him? Just through stories or did they actually meet him?”

“They saw him at our graduation.” Eli told him glumly. “And since he kinda pulled my whole career off track, they like him even less.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard your dad complaining about how ‘that CO of his that screwed with his life’.” Len said sympathetically.

“I mean, to be fair I kind of thought like that at first, but he’s not doing it on purpose! I think he was just trying to do what was best for everyone, and honestly, I’m happier here and now then I would be if I was in supply.”

Len yawned, and Eli kicked himself again for waking him up. “I’ll let you go, Len. Thanks for talking.”

“Course, Eli. An’ don’t worry, I ain’t gonna tell your parents about your Thrawn guy. Good luck with him, Eli.”

“Thanks, Len. Go back to sleep, again, sorry I woke you up.”

“You’re okay, Eli. Good luck with your parents.” Len yawned before Eli hung up.

Eli lied in bed trying to figure out what his next move was supposed to be. He knew he should tell his parents, especially since he’d gotten Thrawn’s explicit approval to do so.

But, as Thrawn walked into the room, Eli found he couldn’t care less what his mother and father said to him, he was happy.

And- as Thrawn kissed him again- Eli knew that was what mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> I might write a follow-up to this with Eli telling his parents later, should I get the inspiration! Thanks to all who participated in this exchange, and to RightHandofFenHarel for giving me the chance to write this, I had a lot of fun with it!


End file.
